Henrietta (Eighteenth-Century Novels by Women) [Paperback]

Charlotte Lennox (Author), Ruth Perry (Editor), Susan Carlile (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0813191904 | ISBN-13: 978-0813191904 | Publication Date: June 1, 2008 | Edition: annotated edition

A pioneer in the tradition of English women's fiction, Charlotte Lennox was valued friend to both Samuel Richardson and Samuel Johnson and a major influence on Jane Austen. The heroine of Charlotte Lennox's Henrietta is a young Englishwoman who resists her aunt's pressure to convert to Catholicism and is set adrift in London society. But unlike many of her passive, vulnerable contemporaries in fiction, the admirable Henrietta makes her way in the world relying on her own cleverness, conviction, and wit. This groundbreaking work of satire and human folly is republished here in a fully annotated modern edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Scholarly editing engenders a sense of responsibility in the editor towards the work and its author, a desire to present the author's work in a full and helpful manner so that other readers may find her work as satisfying as one has oneself. Ruth Perry and Susan Carlile clearly take that responsibility to heart." -- Susan Kubica Howard, ECF

"The latest entry in the series is a welcome addition." -- Kritikon Litterarum

About the Author

Charlotte Lennox (1730--1804) was an English novelist, poet, and playwright. Ruth Perry, professor of literature at MIT, has written widely on women in eighteenth-century England. Her most recent book is Novel Relations: The Transformation of Kinship in English Literature and Culture, 1748--1818. Susan Carlile, associate professor of English at California State University, Long Beach, has published articles in numerous journals and is writing a critical biography of Charlotte Lennox.

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky; annotated edition edition (June 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813191904
• ISBN-13: 978-0813191904
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #971,520 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Proud beauty in distress, December 26, 2010

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Patto (Vermont) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Henrietta (Eighteenth-Century Novels by Women) (Paperback)

Many of the fictional formulas of eighteenth-century fiction have their origin in the novels and plays of Charlotte Lennox. Samuel Johnson considered her "a great genius."

But she was testy, squabbling with friends and alienating the literary world with her feminist critique of Shakespeare. Fame she won, but fortune eluded her.

Being a remarkable woman herself, her writing is rich in formidable women characters, running the gamut from female tyrants of large fortune to penniless heroines of ironclad integrity. Henrietta is of the later variety.

The highborn, high-minded, strikingly lovely young Henrietta finds herself alone in London without friends, family or haven. She has just fled the home of her rich aunt to avoid a repulsive marriage (or worse). Her brother is out of reach traveling. Her guardian is away on business. She has barely enough money for cheap lodgings while she awaits the return of one of these male protectors - a dangerously vulnerable situation for a beauty.

While trying to support herself in London, Henrietta meets with all sorts of human folly and vanity - permitting Charlotte Lennox to exercise her great talent for satire.

Henrietta has a sharp wit and can hold her own in conversational sparring with predatory males, irrational employers, wily Jesuits and disagreeable nobles. She's so self-possessed that we fear she'll never fall in love. But don't despair. Read on to the delightful end.

HENRIETTA was published in 1758. Do read the introduction after you read the book. It gives a fascinating overview of Charlotte Lennox's life and discusses her influence on later authors, including Jane Austen.

After reading SOPHIA, EUPHEMIA and now HENRIETTA, I'm a big fan of Charlotte Lennox. She bridges the gap between Fielding and Austen with an originality all her own.